Race Did Not Require Life Vests, Court Told
The Age
Monday August 30, 1993
Two crewmen who drowned in a Moomba dragon boat race on the Yarra River were not required to wear life vests, the Coroner's Court was told yesterday.
Mr Kooi Huat Lim, the team captain, said the Moomba Dragon Boat Festival, on 14 March, was the only dragon boat event, in his experience of international competition, where a life vest was not compulsory.
The court was told that two Malaysian crewmen, Mr Ravetheran Ganesan, 28, and Mr Zamani Hairan, 31, died after the boat they were in capsized less than 100 metres past the finish line. The two had not been wearing life vests.
Mr Lim said that while his 22-member crew were competent swimmers, they had panicked when the boat overturned and had ignored his call for a head-count.
Mr Lim said the water was cold and rough and the boat started to spin when the team fell into the water after crossing the finish line.
He said the team had practised a drill for a head count should the boat capsize. But, he told the court, when the crew hit the chilly waters they were in a state of panic. ``We were very tired as we had just completed a race," Mr Lim said.
He said that two Red Cross ``safety boats" nearby were ill-equipped and slow in coming to help.
He said one boat had stopped five metres from the crew of the capsized boat. ``It is normal practice that the safety boat come to us, not us to them," he said.
Mr Lim said that when he called for rope to look for a missing crewman he was told there was none.
Under cross exaimination he said the team feared leg cramps in the cold water and agreed the team members struggled over each other trying to climb back on their turning craft.
Mr Peter Hirons, a Red Cross volunteer, told the court that the Red Cross boats provided ``expertise in race support" and umpiring, but were not there to govern safety.
Mr Hirons said he had seen other capsizes. The reaction of the Malaysian crew had been unusual.
``They were panicking ... Some of them appeared as if they could not swim," he said.
The crew, sponsored by Malaysia Airlines, was part of a 35-member group that came to Melbourne especially for the Moomba festival.
The inquest before, Mr Iain West, resumes today.
© 1993 The Age
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